The Burden of Debt: Undergraduate Students’ Experiences with Paying for Their Education

“Without them I couldn't pay for my education, so here I am": Latinx college graduates’ experiences with and perceptions of their student loan debt

“…This occurred even when participants did not fully understand loan repayment. As scholars point out, students may not be completely oblivious about their debt but are simply putting it off until graduation (Zerquera et al, 2017). Our study participants reaffirmed this finding when they frequently could not recount specifics on the amount they had borrowed, or how interest rates impacted repayment.…”

“…Others shared how their debt led to contingency plans for graduate school. This aligns with research showing how students are more reluctant to pursue graduate school because of not wanting to take on more debt (Zerquera et al, 2017). Patty described this burden when she stated:…”

“…Undergraduate debt specifically, irrespective of race/ethnicity, has been found to negatively impact students' likelihood of pursuing graduate degrees (Malcom & Dowd, 2012). Conversely, students were encouraged to attend graduate school as a way to delay student loan repayment (Zerquera et al, 2017). Findings from these studies underscore the need to further examine student experiences with loans across racial/ethnic groups Perna et al, 2017).…”

“…On the other hand, limited qualitative research exists regarding student perceptions and experiences with borrowing student loans (Baker, 2019b). Some of this work focused on students while they were still enrolled and prior to entering repayment (Zerquera et al, 2017).…”

“…The combination of rising tuition and decreasing government support contributed to borrowers relying more on loans to attend college (Furquim et al, 2017). Due to this increased reliance on loans, understanding how students decide about acquiring student loan debt to pay for college is critical (Boatman et al, 2017;Zerquera et al, 2017).…”